1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus capable of generating the intermediate data in the data form which is different from the print data before generating the print data to be transmitted to a print apparatus through a specific communication medium, and also, capable of storing the intermediate data provisionally, and generating the print data from the intermediate data per unit of page. The invention also relates to a method for processing the print data for the data processing apparatus, as well as to a storage medium storing a program which is readable by a computer, and a data process program product.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, for a print apparatus (a printer) having the function to print per unit of page, and also, for the print process of the print system formed by the data processing apparatus, such as personal computer, which is connected with the printer, there has been known the page layout print (N-UP print) in which a plurality of pages (N pages) are reduced into one page layout (within one print sheet) as a print method that performs the page control.
The layout print is the print method which is suitable for curtailing the number of output sheets or for performing a draft printing, among some others. For example, it is possible to save the number of output sheets approximately by a half when performing the layout print (2 UP print) where two logical pages (two output pages from the application) are printed on one physical page (one output sheet).
Besides this page layout print, there are known, likewise, the 4 UP print where 4 logical pages are layout printed into one physical page, and the 8 UP print, the 9 UP print, the 16 UP print, and others. Also, it is known that the layout direction in one physical page can be made from the right to the left, from the top to the bottom, or the like. Further, for the implementation of this layout print, there is known a method in which the operator designates the page layout print mode, the number of the logical pages that should be layout printed on one physical page, and also, the layout direction when he designates the print mode of a document data or others by use of an information processing apparatus.
Also, it is known that once the page layout mode has been designated, such mode setting is effective until the designation is made afresh.
Further, for the printer which is provided with the function to perform the double-side print, it is known that if the double-side print execution mode is designated by use of the information processing apparatus, and if it is transmitted once to the printer, the double-side print is executed by the printer without the execution of any particular process made further on the information processing apparatus.
However, in accordance with the methods described above, if the N-UP print has been once designated, the logical pages are reduced and layout printed on one physical page unless the setting is changed, even when it is intended to print one page portion of the document data whose logical pages do not produce any particular effect by the operation of layout print, because the previous N-UP setting is still kept effective. More specifically, for example, if the 2 UP print has been once designated, the layout print is performed either one of the two directions each segmented into the left and right or the top and bottom on the physical page depending on the designation of the layout directions. Therefore, the surface on the other direction becomes the marginal portion accordingly.
Likewise, if the 4-UP print has been once designated, the layout print is made in either one of the four segments on one physical page, and the surface of the other segments becomes the marginal portion accordingly. Therefore, not only the marginal portion is wasted, but also, the print style may be spoiled.
Also, in order to avoid this marginal print drawback, the operator should designate the print mode again for the desired layout when he instructs the next print. The number of operations should increase eventually.
Also, when it is intended to N-UP print the document data which has a plurality of logical pages in anticipation of a higher layout print effect, there is a need for the operator to designate the 2-UP which may layout print the document data of 2 logical pages effectively into the data of one physical page savingly without any wasteful marginal portion which should be saved or to designate the 4-UP that may effectively print the document data of 3 or 4 logical pages into the data of one physical page savingly without any wasteful marginal portion, for example. In such a manner, the operator should designate the appropriate N-UP in accordance with the number of pages of the document data or the like. Consequently, the number of operations should increase inevitably.
Further, when using the text editor or the like which is not provided with any function to adjust the style of a printed page by the adoption of any application, for example, it is difficult for the operator to designate an appropriate N-UP for saving the output pages, because the segmentation per unit of page is made by means of a simple counting of line numbers or the like in the interior of the application currently available, which is not good enough to let the operator know in advance the anticipated page style, the total number of pages, and so on.
The present invention is designed to solve the problems discussed above. It is an object of the invention to provide a data processing apparatus which is arranged to generate and output the intermediate data having the layout page number set in advance or having the page number different from such layout page number, which is edited per page, with the designation of the print mode accompanied by the reduced layout to be set, and the logical page numbers to be printed, and then, to generate the output intermediate data with the layout of the optimum page number, which depends on the page numbers of the print data designated for printing, and the data processing apparatus is made capable of automatically avoiding the print process having the improper style with the excessive margin due to a smaller number of logical pages in the print data, and at the same time, saving the output sheets significantly without any particular preventive operation even when the layout print is designated at the time of executing the print process as arranged above. It is also an object of the invention to provide a method for processing print data for the data processing apparatus, and a storage medium that stores a program readable by a computer, as well as a data process program product.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a data processing apparatus, which is capable of generating the intermediate data in the form different from the print data before generating the print data to be transmitted to a print apparatus through a specific communication medium, provisionally keeping the intermediate data, and generating the print data from the intermediate data, comprises means for recording page information to record the logical page information for the print data to be transmitted to the print apparatus when the intermediate data is generated; means for editing intermediate data to edit the intermediate data having a predetermined page layout number or the page number different from the layout page number in accordance with the print mode designated by means for designating print mode and the logical page information recorded in the means for recording page information; and output means to generate the print data analyzable by the print apparatus in accordance with the output intermediate data edited per page by the means for editing intermediate data, and to output the data to the print apparatus.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the means for designating print mode designates the page layout print mode and the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the means for designating print mode designates the print mode of whether or not the page number to be laid out in one page is automatically calculated when the page layout print mode is designated.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the print apparatus comprises the double-side print function, and the means for designating print mode is able to designate the double-side print for the print apparatus.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the means for recording page information counts the total page number of the print data, and records the logical page information of the print data to be transmitted to the print apparatus.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the means for editing intermediate data performs the page edit accompanied by the reduced page layout when the page layout print mode is designated by the means for designating print data.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the means for editing intermediate data performs the page edit to layout the intermediate data having a portion of page numbers different from the designated page number when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the means for editing intermediate data performs the page edit to layout the intermediate data having a portion of page numbers different from the designated page number when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page and the double-side print is designated.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the means for editing intermediate data performs the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, while defining the designated page number as maximum, for the effective arrangement of each page of the print data on an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, the means for editing intermediate data performs the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, while defining the designated page number as maximum, for the effective arrangement of each page of the print data on the double-side of an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page and the double-side print is designated.
According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, the means for editing intermediate data performs the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, not depending on the designated page number, for the proper arrangement of each page of the print data within one page of an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, the means for editing intermediate data performs the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, not depending on the designated page number, for the proper arrangement of each page of the print data on the double-side of an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page and the double-side print is designated.
According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the print mode designation is made by a specific input unit.
According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the input unit is a pointing device or a keyboard.
According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, the means for editing intermediate data begins editing pages when the execution of the print process is instructed in accordance with the print mode designated by the means for designating print mode.
According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, a method for processing print data for the data processing apparatus, which is capable of generating the intermediate data in the form different from the print data before generating the print data to be transmitted to a print apparatus through a specific communication medium, provisionally keeping the intermediate data in a memory source, and generating the print data from the intermediate data per unit of page, comprises the following steps of: recording page information to record the logical page information for the print data to be transmitted to the print apparatus in the memory source when the intermediate data is generated and kept provisionally; editing intermediate data to edit the intermediate data having a predetermined page layout number or the page number different from the layout page number in accordance with the print mode designated in the step of designating print mode and the logical page information recorded in the step of recording page information; and generating the print data analyzable by the print apparatus in accordance with the output intermediate data edited per page in the step of editing intermediate data, and outputting the data to the print apparatus.
According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, the step of designating print mode is for the designation of the page layout print mode and the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to an eighteenth aspect of the present invention, the step of designating print mode is for the designation of the print mode of whether or not the page number to be laid out in one page is automatically calculated when the page layout print mode is designated.
According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, the print apparatus comprises the double-side print function, and the step of designating print mode is for the designation of the double-side print for the print apparatus.
According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, the step of recording page information is for counting the total page number of the print data, and recording the logical page information of the print data to be transmitted to the print apparatus.
According to a twenty-first aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is for the performance of the page editing accompanied by the reduced page layout when the page layout print mode is designated in the step of designating print data.
According to a twenty-second aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is for the performance of the page edit to layout the intermediate data having a portion of page numbers different from the designated page number when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to a twenty-third aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is for the performance of the page edit to layout the intermediate data having a portion of page numbers different from the designated page number when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page and the double-side print is designated.
According to a twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is for the performance of the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, while defining the designated page number as maximum, for the effective arrangement of each page of the print data on an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to a twenty-fifth aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is for the performance of the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, while defining the designated page number as maximum, for the effective arrangement of each page of the print data on the double-side of an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page and the double-side print is designated.
According to a twenty-sixth aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is for the performance of the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, not depending on the designated page number, for the proper arrangement of each page of the print data within one page of an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to a twenty-seventh aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is for the performance of the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, not depending on the designated page number, for the proper arrangement of each page of the print data on the double-side of an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page and the double-side print is designated.
According to a twenty-eighth aspect of the present invention, the print mode designation is made by a specific input unit.
According to a twenty-ninth aspect of the present invention, the input unit is a pointing device or a keyboard.
According to a thirtieth aspect of the present invention, the means for editing intermediate data begins editing pages when the execution of the print process is instructed in accordance with the print mode designated by the step of designating print mode.
According to a thirty-first aspect of the present invention, a storage medium, which stores a program readable by a computer controlling the data processing apparatus capable of generating the intermediate data in the form different from the print data before generating the print data to be transmitted to a print apparatus through a specific communication medium, provisionally keeping the intermediate data in a memory source, and generating the print data from the intermediate data per unit of page, comprises the following steps of: recording page information to record the logical page information for the print data to be transmitted to the print apparatus in the memory source when the intermediate data is generated and kept provisionally; editing intermediate data to edit the intermediate data having a predetermined page layout number or the page number different from the layout page number in accordance with the print mode designated in the step of designating print mode and the logical page information recorded in the step of recording page information; and generating the print data analyzable by the print apparatus in accordance with the output intermediate data edited per page in the step of editing intermediate data, and outputting the data to the print apparatus.
According to a thirty-second aspect of the present invention, the step of designating print mode is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer for the designation of the page layout print mode and the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to a thirty-third aspect of the present invention, the step of designating print mode is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer for the designation of the print mode of whether or not the page number to be laid out in one page is automatically calculated when the page layout print mode is designated.
According to a thirty-fourth aspect of the present invention, the print apparatus comprises the double-side print function, and the step of designating print mode is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer for the designation of the double-side print for the print apparatus.
According to a thirty-fifth aspect of the present invention, the step of recording page information is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer for counting the total page number of the print data, and recording the logical page information of the print data to be transmitted to the print apparatus.
According to a thirty-sixth aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer for the performance of the page editing accompanied by the reduced page layout when the page layout print mode is designated in the step of designating print data.
According to a thirty-seventh aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer for the performance of the page edit to layout the intermediate data having a portion of page numbers different from the designated page number when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to a thirty-eighth aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer for the performance of the page edit to layout the intermediate data having a portion of page numbers different from the designated page number when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page and the double-side print is designated.
According to a thirty-ninth aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer for the performance of the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, while defining the designated page number as maximum, for the effective arrangement of each page of the print data on an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to a fortieth aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer for the performance of the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, while defining the designated page number as maximum, for the effective arrangement of each page of the print data on the double-side of an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page and the double-side print is designated.
According to a forty-first aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer for the performance of the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, not depending on the designated page number, for the proper arrangement of each page of the print data within one page of an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page.
According to a forty-second aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer for the performance of the automatic calculation of page number to be laid out in one page in accordance with the total page number of the print data, not depending on the designated page number, for the proper arrangement of each page of the print data on the double-side of an output sheet when the mode is designated to automatically calculate the page number to be laid out in one page and the double-side print is designated.
According to a forty-third aspect of the present invention, the print mode designation is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer and made executable by a specific input unit.
According to a forty-fourth aspect of the present invention, the input unit is arranged to be a pointing device or a keyboard and made operative in accordance with a stored program readable by a computer.
According to a forty-fifth aspect of the present invention, the step of editing intermediate data is stored in the storage medium as a program readable by a computer, and begins editing pages when the execution of the print process is instructed in accordance with the print mode designated by the step of designating print mode.
According to a forty-sixth aspect of the present invention, a program product for the execution of the above-described processes is provided.